When Maryam Eskandari gave her guest lecture on exploring Islamic architecture, she underlined the influence Islamic architectural designs have had on other buildings, from Trump’s Vegas casino to St. Peter’s Basilica. A few characteristics she highlighted were the following: rotundas with domes, minarets and arabesque calligraphic designs. Her work on studying the qualities of the artwork on the inside of the dome was really interesting, suggesting that there are specific patterns to dome artwork found across many geographical locations.
For this week’s blog post, I wanted to jump off of Ms. Eskandari’s work and focus on the beauty within Islamic artwork, particularly mosque dome designs. Islamic art maintains a unique voice. Dome designs are a principle feature of the mosque, highlighting “centrality and symmetry,” according to Ardalan’s “On Mosque Architecture” (p. 56). This symmetry is reflected in arabesque designs that so often cover the inside of these domes. The centrality of the dome designs focuses attention on the light – the Divine light – at the center of the dome.
I chose to put together a comparison of the inside of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, a mosque built by Muhammad in Medina, a flower, and a traditional arabesque design. I was shocked at how similar both the arabesque design and mosque decorations were to the natural beauty of a flower. Nature has a unique role in Islam, as in the Qur’an it states: “And the earth! We have spread it out…and have produced therein every kind of fresh plant. An insight and a reminder for every servant turning [to Allah]” (50: 7-8). Flowers are a reminder of God’s creation and the natural beauty associated with God. These three images taken together show their distinctions, but also show their similar symmetry. The connection between beautiful flowers and man-made designs underlines the focus on nature, as nature reminds us of our submission to God.
The images (from right to left) are from these sources:
